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Zsfassung in engl. Sprache

The main theme of this essay is twofold: 1. the role of unforeseen, unplanned events and encounters that usually take place in the course of ethnographic fieldwork, and 2. the advantages and disadvantages of fieldwork collaboration with an indigenous partner/assistant, combining his/her competences in local matters with that in social sciences. These reflections are based on the author's experiences from research carried out in the U.S., focusing on the Polish-American diaspora and from studies conducted among indigenous communities of the Andean America. The cases discussed are related to the situation in Ecuador and Bolivia, and above all Chile, where the author carried out his fieldwork in the area of Araucania, the native land of Mapuche.

The article provides an outline of the career of Rev. Prof. Wojciech Bęben as a prominent ethnologist, experienced field researcher an expert in the indigenous peoples of New Guinea and Oceania. The author presents the biography and contribution of Wojciech Bęben, juxtaposing them with the achievements of other distinguished Polish researchers in this area – Jan Kubary and Bronisław Malinowski

Short description (Adapted from introductory paragraph):"Since the early 90s of the 20th century, I followed systematically the development of the socio-cultural and ethno-political situation in the Andean region, meaning the countries in West South America, whose territories include the Pacific coast, and extend into the Andes. The main area of my anthropological investigations relates to three countries, namely to Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. Despite the fundamental differences in economic development and particular political differences that can be observed, these countries have much in common. This allows me to treat this region as a single cultural entity and to compare similarities between processes taking place here…"
Translated and adapted by Michal Gilewski

El artículo fue publicado originalmente sin resumen.

The article was originally published without an abstract. Short description written by written by Michał Gilewski
The article relates the development of activism in indigenous Andean communities in Peru. Since the 90's, the presence of the new type of leadership in indigenous communities, indigenous activists, have resulted in stopping the process of desintegration of their communities. Posern-Zieliński portrays the historical factors important in the indigenous movement. There were many threats - from the early XX century nationalism that opposed indigenous culture to the internal violence in 80's Peru that was great threat to indigenous communities. This lead to the development of the movement from rural, "campesinos", movement that now had become much more powerful. In the end, indigenous identity is now being reborn and some even speak about the reindianization of Peru.

Short description:
The article describes the recent developments in institutions of leadership among traditional Andean, indigenous communities in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. In these countries not only peasant indigenous communities are present but also native communities that live in the Amazon forests. In modern times, those communities go through a process of politicization that mirrors other indigenous movements in North and Central America. The article describes both traditional and new forms of leadership that exist among the indigenous communities.
Short description written by Michał Gilewski

Short Description:
The article presents a portion of observations made in 1990's in Ecuador by the team of researchers lead by Posern-Zieliński. The research focused on the emergence of new identities in Ecuador, with particular interest in the indigenous groups' identities. The article introduces the demographics of Ecuador, and a short history of political projects related with multiculturalism.

This article is a the historical overview of local socio-religious syncretic movements in Guiana. Both protestant Christianization and the complex colonization process that resulted in Dutch and British presence were crucial to the emergence of these new ideas. First syncretic beliefs linked the figure of Christ with a local mythical being called Makunaima. This kind of belief appears to start in 1840's with the Awakaipu, a native man who was able to gather some followers. By the end of the 19th Century roots of a new religious movement, named the Hallelujah, started to develop independently.
English abstract/description written by Michał Gilewski

Indigenous social movements originated as a means of opposing colonization and Christianization. The intensity of this phenomenon has significantly increased in the 19th Century when colonialism peaked. Posern-Zieliński selected three examples of such movements: the Venezuelan eschatological-fatalist Yaruro movement, the millennialist-prophetic Tukana movement from Brasil and the syncretic-evangelic cults from Argentina. These three movements are used to analyze the role of such movements in societal change and conservation.

The article presents the idea of personal ethnography, i.e. the anthropologists' individual experiences that include practical, existential, and emotional dimensions of ethnographic field research. Such experiences and their details are largely absent in scientific papers, due to their apparent irrelevance for research results. Nevertheless, they form an indispensable part of ethnographic research, influencing its scientific findings. This article not only emphasizes the need to include this aspect of ethnographic research in the methodological reflection, but also points out the differences and similarities between personal ethnography and autoethnography, following the main threads of personal experiences from fieldwork.